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Stocks dragged down by oil and Alcoa

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks finished lower Tuesday, with all three major indexes losing about 1%, as a 3% drop in oil prices sparked a sell-off in energy stocks and Alcoa's sales disappointment weighed down the Dow.

Investors also were on edge after Japanese officials raised the threat level at the Fukushima nuclear plant to the same as the 1986 incident at Chernobyl, in what was then the Soviet Union.

"Some people wanted to forget the nuclear threat in Japan, but it popped back up and worsened overnight," said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading."There are a lot of headwinds in the market, and on a day like today, investors are waking up and taking notice of all of them."

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dropped 118 points, or 1%, dragged down by a 6% drop in Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500)'s stock. The aluminum giant reported disappointing sales late Monday as it kicked off the first-quarter earnings season.

"[Investors] want to see better revenues, margins and are interested in company guidance," said Saluzzi. Alcoa didn't deliver, worrying investors about how rising input and commodity prices will affect other corporate earnings.

Energy companies also added pressure on the market, as oil prices fell more than 3% to $106.25 a barrel. The slide in crude came after a Goldman Sachs forecast for a $20-a-barrel drop in crude prices this spring. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) were big laggards on the Dow.